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SOP 23: SUPER BOWL LII – THE CASTLE HAS BEEN DEFENDED

Super Bowl

Eagles 41 – Patriots 33

This was a game for the ages, a record-breaker statistically and wire-to-wire excitement. Even with only 1:05 left in the game and the ball on his 9 yard line no one doubted Tom Brady’s and the Patriot’s ability to come back from an eight-point deficit.

But fall they did and along with them, their hopes of securing a Steeler-tying seventh Lombardi trophy.

In this episode we go through the some of the game’s highlights, a couple of stories-within-the-story and point out a couple ironies produced in this game.

Declining Interest in the NFL

NFL viewership has declined 17% over the past two seasons. The number of people watching the Super Bowl has been static since 2010 and last night’s attracted 103.4 million viewers, the lowest number since 2009 when the Steelers defeated the Cardinals 27-23 with 98.7 million viewers.

Look at what at the Super Bowl viewership from 1990-2018:

We review the theories behind this plunge, then dive into the issue of concussions, talking about some cutting-edge engineering and science behind a couple of ideas that may pave the way to a future technology that will render concussions a thing of the past.